


Dedek and the Little Duckling

by LillianDeLooney



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alive Hale Family, Alternate Universe - Human, Babysitter Derek, Babysitting, Childhood Friends, IT'S SO FLUFFY, Kid Derek, Kid Fic, M/M, Pre-Slash, Short & Sweet, Soulmates, toddler stiles
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-20
Updated: 2016-05-20
Packaged: 2018-06-09 14:06:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,047
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6910327
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LillianDeLooney/pseuds/LillianDeLooney
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Dedek!” Stiles yells as he runs up to him as fast as his little legs can carry him, squealing gleefully when Derek picks him up and blows a raspberry on his tummy. </p>
<p>“I’ve told you Stiles, it’s Derek.”</p>
<p>The toddler giggles and smacks a wet kiss on his cheek, then nods. “Dedek.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	Dedek and the Little Duckling

It all started one day in the local supermarket. Derek was ten years old and happy to get out of the busy house to do some grocery shopping for his mom. He was standing in the breakfast isle, trying to decide what cereal to buy, when he heard a child crying softly. He went to investigate, because something inside him begged him to find the source of the crying. And his parents taught him that it’s good to help people in need. Like his dad, who was a deputy with the local police force and helped people by putting away the bad guys.

It didn’t take him long to find a little boy crying in front of the toy section, a thumb in his mouth and his chest heaving with sobs. Derek squatted down to be at eye-level with the toddler, then proceeded to calm the boy down to the best of his abilities.

“Hey, my name is Derek,” he told the boy once he’d calmed down enough. “Can you tell me your name?”

“’tiles,” the boy mumbled around his thumb.

Derek frowned. “’Tiles?”

The boy shook his head and removed his thumb from his mouth with a put upon sigh. “ _Stiles_.”

“Alright,” Derek shrugged. “Can you tell me what’s wrong, Stiles?”

Stiles’ eyes started to water all over again and Derek quickly tried to sooth him, rubbing a hand on his back in a circular motion like his mom did when he was upset. It seemed to work, because Stiles took a shaky breath and looked at Derek like he just found out his puppy died.

“I lost Mommy,” he whimpered.

Yeah, that’d do it.

Derek stood up and held out his hand for the boy. “Come on, I’ll help you find her.”

They then walked around the supermarket together to find Stiles’ mom, one of Stiles’ hands in Derek’s and one thumb of the other in his mouth. It only took about five minutes for them to find the frantic-looking woman. She scolded Stiles for running off without saying anything, but soon after buried him in kisses that made the boy giggle.

“Thank you so much,” she said after turning towards him, holding Stiles securely on her hip. “Hey, you’re Derek Hale, right? Robert is your father?”

Derek nodded, not sure how this woman knew who he was. Apparently it showed on his face, because the woman chuckled and explained it to him.

“I’m Claudia Stilinski. Your dad is one my husband’s deputies.”

They made some more small talk, and eventually Claudia mentioned that she and her husband were still looking for a babysitter for Stiles.

“Would you like to do it? It will only be for a few hours at a time, and you’ll be home again before your own bedtime if we need you in the evening,” she told him with a wink.

Derek liked the prospect of doing such an adult thing, plus earning some money would be cool, so he shrugged and said that sure, he would do it. And that was that.

Over time, he and Stiles grew closer, their families grew closer and started to hang out a lot, so he saw Stiles outside of babysitting him as well. Derek honestly enjoys spending time with him, he’s a funny little guy. He also gets warm and fuzzy inside whenever Stiles compliments him, or takes his hand, or looks at him like Derek is his favourite person in the universe.

Derek often catches their moms cooing at them, which always makes him roll his eyes even though his mom has told him countless times that it’s a bad habit. He just doesn’t understand what all the fuss is about. Sometimes he hears their parents whisper about soulmates too, but he doesn’t really know what that is about yet either.

He’s dragged out of his thoughts by Stiles calling his name.

“Dedek!” the boy yells as he runs up to him as fast as his little legs can carry him, squealing gleefully when Derek picks him up and blows a raspberry on his tummy.

“I’ve told you Stiles, it’s _Derek._ ”

The toddler giggles and smacks a wet kiss on his cheek, then nods. “Dedek.”

Derek sighs and puts him down again, gently nudging the little guy’s head. “Whatever.”

He’s tried – in vain, obviously – to make Stiles call him by his actual name instead of the one he used one year ago, when he couldn’t quite pronounce the ‘r’ yet. Unfortunately, Stiles is a stubborn little thing even at the age of three, so he hasn’t had any luck so far, even though they both know he can pronounce Derek’s name just fine.

“Ready to watch our little terror for a few hours, Derek?” John asks, and Derek nods with a chuckle. The Stilinskis are going out on a dinner date tonight, so Derek is babysitting Stiles again. John and Claudia go over everything Derek might need, reminding him to call them if there’s a problem (Derek already knows all of this, but nods politely anyway) and then the couple puts on their coats, both giving Stiles a kiss goodbye before they quickly kiss each other.

Derek makes a face at the sight – because ew, cooties – and Stiles is quick to copy him. The Stilinskis laugh and say their goodbyes, promising they’ll be back in a few hours. Derek closes the door after the couple and turns around to face Stiles again.

“So,” he says, hands on his hips and raising an eyebrow. “Pizza and Disney?”

“PIZZA AND DISNEY!” Stiles hollers, racing into the living room to put in the DVD while Derek calls for pizza, not even trying to hide his amused snort of laughter.

 

* * *

 

One day, their families go to the pond in the preserve where Derek lives to feed the ducks together. Well, he and Stiles feed them anyway. Laura refused to come along because she’s ‘too old for that shit’ – after which she wasn’t even allowed to come anymore and was promptly banned to her room instead. Cora seems to have decided that the ducks are her enemies and is throwing rather than feeding them the bread.

“Dedek look!” Stiles shouts, catching Derek’s attention again.

“Hm?”

He’s pointing a chubby little finger at a bunch of baby ducklings following their mother around, quacking enthusiastically. Stiles makes his thinking face and Derek waits patiently for him to ask his question.

“Why do they follow the momma ducky ‘round the whole time?”

“Because they could get lost if they lose her. And they’re a family, you know? Family needs to stick together,” Derek explains. He hums. “They actually kind of remind me of you. Sometimes you follow me around like a little duck, too.”

Stiles looks like he wants to object, but then he pauses, his face lighting up. “So that means we’re fam’ly, too!”

“I guess we are,” he chuckles, handing Stiles another piece of bread. “Your turn, little duck.”

Stiles sticks his tongue out at him, but continues feeding the ducks with a content smile on his face.

 

* * *

 

Derek loves to draw in his spare time. During the last week of summer break he lies on his stomach in the Stilinski’s back yard, drawing a picture of the house while Stiles colours in his new Disney colouring book. Derek’s engrossed in his drawing, like usual. It makes him so calm, makes him forget about everything else for a while. He looks up when he hears Stiles’ sharp gasp.

“What?” he asks in alarm, immediately scanning the boy with his eyes to see if something’s wrong with him.

“Dedek your picture!”

Derek frowns, looking at his picture and back to the boy lying next to him. “What about it?”

Stiles puts one of his little hands on Derek’s arm and squeezes tightly, eyes impossibly earnest as he tells him: “ _It’s so pretty!_ ”

Derek is unable to stop a goofy smile, a blush forming on his cheeks at the praise and his chest filling with warmth. “Thanks.”

Claudia comes outside with drinks and disrupts the moment. She asks Derek some questions about the new school year, since he’s going to go to middle school now.

“Are you excited?”

He shrugs, giving her a wan smile. “I just hope people will like me.” He’s never really gotten along with kids his age. Derek guesses he’s just too awkward or something.

“’s okay, Dedek,” Stiles says, climbing into his lap. “You’re still my friend.”

If Derek hugs the little guy a bit too tightly after that, Stiles doesn’t complain about it.

 

* * *

 

Derek starts middle school, and to his utter surprise, he actually _does_ manage to make some friends.

There’s Boyd, who is quiet and a bit shy like him, but really cool and likes drawing too. Then there’s Erica, who proclaimed she didn’t like the girls in their class because ‘all they do is gossip, so stupid’ and decided she liked them better anyway so they should be best friends, period. Finally, there was Isaac, who they kind of adopted into their group after seeing him get bullied on the playground. Erica wanted to fight back against the bullies, but Derek took the lead and did the smart thing – get a teacher. Everything got resolved quickly after that and their group of friends was complete.

Having new friends and a new school also means that Derek is really busy. A lot busier than he used to be. One weekend, Erica has a birthday party on Saturday and Derek hangs out with his friends at the party all day. He completely forgets that it’s the last Saturday of the month, which he and his family usually spend with the Stilinskis.

When he gets home, Laura tells him all about it. Derek feels bad when he learns that he forgot about today, but he feels even worse when she tells him about Stiles’ reaction to his absence. Apparently he freaked out and almost worked himself into a panic attack, and he had refused to talk the rest of the day, his thumb firmly lodged in his mouth.

Derek’s eyes widen and he feels a pang of something in his chest on top of the rush of guilt. He runs to the living room to find his parents and begs them to drive him to the Stilinski house.

He _has_ to talk to the little guy so he can apologize. He knows that there’s no way either of them will sleep if he doesn’t. His dad agrees to take him and Derek gives him a quick hug, before he rushes out of the house and to the car.

When they get to Stiles’ house, John opens the door for them and smiles down at Derek.

“He’s in his bedroom,” the man tells him. “Go ahead, I’m sure he’s still awake.”

Derek nods and walks upstairs. He takes a deep breath outside Stiles’ room before he goes in, then he knocks twice and opens the door.

He finds Stiles lying in bed, hugging his stuffed wolf – a birthday present from Derek – to his chest and his thumb in his mouth. His little face is stained with tears and Derek feels the guilt all over again. The boy sniffs and watches Derek warily.

“Hi,” Derek says softly. “Can I come in?”

It takes a while, but eventually Stiles nods and Derek lets out a breath of relief. He walks over to the boy’s bed and sits down beside him. He gently wipes away some leftover tears and Stiles closes his eyes with a shudder, leaning into Derek’s touch.

“Where were you?” Stiles asks angrily, though Derek can hear the hurt in his voice. “You’re s’posed to be _here_ on the last Saturday!”

Derek sighs and explains that he forgot and that he’s a stupid poophead, to which Stiles lets out a surprised little laugh. He also explains that he made some new friends and that he’ll be a bit busier with school now, but just because he won’t be here as much as usual, that doesn’t mean he doesn’t want to be Stiles’ friend anymore.

“You said it yourself, we’re family.”

“Pwomise?” Stiles asks shyly around the thumb in his mouth.

“I promise.”

“Kay,” Stiles lets out a big yawn and nods. “Night-night, Dedek.”

“Night-night, little duck.”

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Before you ask, I probably won’t write a follow up chapter or anything for this, adorable as it may be. This was honestly just something I wrote really quickly today, because I am completely stuck with my other (way, WAY longer) stories that I can’t wait to share with you. Shouldn’t be too long before I give in to my enthusiasm and just post the first chapter of that to be honest, so I’ll hopefully see you again soon!


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